


Come What May

by sephirothflame



Category: due South
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Arranged Marriage, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 12:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sephirothflame/pseuds/sephirothflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ray was seven when he was promised to Benton Fraser. Not that growing up knowing that made the inevitable future any easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Come What May

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: alpha/beta/omega dynamics, biting, marking, underage (Ray is 16, Benton is 17), mentions of knotting and breeding, though unspecific, and dubious consent given the subject of Heats.

Stanley was bored. He’d been abandoned by his parents to sit in the lobby of a cold, quiet office while they conducted _grown up business_ , and whenever he tried to so much as stretch the secretary sent him a dark glare.

It wasn’t Stanley’s fault there wasn’t anything to do. He’d left his truck in the car, or maybe the hotel room, but no amount of wailing would get his father to turn back and look for it. His mother shushed him, annoyed because he had already made them late, and the idea that he’d somehow disappointed his mother only made Stanley feel worse.

There were newspapers, but Stanley hadn’t yet reached the peak of boredom where he would even consider trying to read them. He didn’t like reading. Not even the books the librarian picked out especially for him. Definitely not the ones his mother gave up trying to read him at night.

The only other person to bother was a boy a little older than Stanley, but he, to Stanley’s contrast, seemed content to curl up in the uncomfortable chairs and read. A book, a proper one, with chapters and no pictures, and he’d shown no interest in conversation. From the way he was worrying his thumbnail between his teeth and the frantic scanning of his eyes, Stanley supposed it was a good book, at least.

Even if he had felt up to talking though, Stanley didn’t know if he would talk to him. Something about the boy made him nervous, and he didn’t know what. He’d seemed nice enough, for an older boy, and his father had laughed at Stanley’s scowl when he tried to ruffle his hair.

But the boy’s father was with Stanley’s father and Stanley’s mother, in the office with closed blinds on the window on the door, and they’d been in there for quite a while. _Signing Stanley’s Soul away_ , his father had said, but his mother had glowered with enough ferocity that Stanley found himself playing quietly on the floor to avoid it being directed at him.

(And suddenly, he remembered where he left his truck, because he’d been playing caves and tunnels and driven it straight under the bed skirt on the stiff hotel bed.)

Sullenly, Stanley twisted in his seat and stared at the office door. He rested his chin on the back of the rough fabric chair and sighed heavily. He didn’t think staring would make the conversation go any faster so they could go home already – not to the hotel room, but home, where he had a bed and another truck and a bear his father said he was too old to tote around with him and a best friend who let him hold her hand when she didn’t think he had cooties – but Stanley had to try.

Though maybe it worked, or the gentle tick tock of the clock and the rustling of pages from the boy behind him and the secretary at her desk managed to lull him into a trance, but finally, the door cracked open. Stanley perked up at once, twisting in his chair fully to rise up on his knees and call out for his parents.

Her father ignored him, in conversation with the man in the nice suit and the other boy’s father, but his mother smiled and blew him a kiss before holding up one finger to gesture for him to wait.

Stanley had no intentions of waiting though, not really. “I know where my truck is,” he said, drumming his hands on the back of the chair. “I have to get it before the monsters and spiders and mooses take it.”

“Mooses?” his mother asked, frowning in confusion.

“It’s _moose_ ,” the blue eyed boy said, matter-of-factly. He’d finally looked up from his book and he seemed just as wary as Stanley felt.

“Moose?” Stanley asked.

The boy nodded his head. “Moose don’t steal trucks, though.” He cocked his head to the side and frowned. “Why would they want to?”

“To crush it,” Stanley said. “Stella told me they’re as big as houses and they crush everything in their path and that they’re at war with reindeer and I’m gonna see one before I go home and -“

“Stanley,” his mother said, exasperated. “Stella was teasing. She’s never seen a moose before, and you aren’t likely to either. Not for a while.” She placed her hand on the top of his head, smoothing his hair down, and Stanley leaned into the gentle pet and sighed happily. “I’m sure your truck is fine.”

“I hope so,” Stanley said. He closed his eyes and let the soft scratch of his mother’s nails against his scalp distract him, relishing the warm, safe feeling it gave him. “Are we going home now?”

“Soon,” his mother promised, and Stanley felt too happy right then to argue.

 

* * *

 

Stella didn’t believe Stanley for the longest time. “Why would anyone agree to marry you?” She asked with a frown, and Stanley could barely do more than shrug.

Even a few years after the papers had been signed promising the boys to each other, Stanley still couldn’t figure out why anyone would want to marry him. Well, besides the fact that he was pretty cool and could skip rocks farther than any of his friends.

“You’re short,” Stella continued, her frown deepening. “You don’t have very good grades and you don’t listen very well and my mom said you can’t even really tell who is an Alpha and who is an Omega until puberty.”

The word made Stanley’s skin flush, from embarrassment more than anything else. They hadn’t gone over that in school yet, and Stanley’s father made excuses to dodge the question, but Stanley had heard the other kids talk on the playground. He knew it was something serious, and that it was going to happen soon, and when it did it would mean he was one step closer to moving out of Chicago and getting married.

“My mom says they’re pretty sure,” Stanley said. His skin prickled, and he wasn’t sure why. “Says I don’t have the _personality_ of anything but an Omega. And _he_ has Alpha parents, so he’s definitely one as well.”

The only saving grace about not having gone through puberty yet was the fact he couldn’t officially be classified as an Omega or an Alpha or anything else. He didn’t have the right hormones yet, or something. He wasn’t shy like some of the kids they were pretty sure were going to be Omegas, and he got along with people well enough.

Stanley thought he was probably a Beta, not that it would change his fate or anything. Not being able to bare children wasn’t going to change the fact he was promised to someone who lived in a different country.  His conviction was strong enough he wasn’t even shamed by the possibility of being an Omega.

“My mom thinks I’m going to be an Alpha,” Stella said, after a while. She curled her finger through her hair and then shrugged. “Hey, you think if you are an Omega and I’m an Alpha I can claim you first? Then you won’t leave and you’ll always be around. We can do stuff more because you’ll be mine.”

Stanley wasn’t sure of the legality of that, considering he’d been engaged for years despite his lack of consent, but he nodded his head. “That’d be cool,” he agreed. He didn’t think he would mind being Stella’s, if he was a Beta or an Omega. Even when she was mean, she was only doing it to teach him something. It was because she was growing into being an Alpha, or at least that’s what Stanley’s mom said.

“I’ll ask my mom,” Stella decided, and that was that for her. She was confident in the outcome, and Stanley admired that. That was a good trait for a mate to have, especially in an Alpha. “It’s not like you don’t already do what I tell you to, anyway,” and even as Stanley’s face flushed, there was too much truth in the statement to argue.

 

* * *

 

Ray was almost fourteen when the _changes_ started. A little late for his age, the doctor said, but he’d assured him and his parents it was perfectly natural. He’d asked Ray the normal questions, about his appetite and if his bones hurt and reassured him that the stirring in his loins was perfectly normal.

Ray didn’t know what made him blush more, the fact his parents were in the room to hear the comment, or the fact the doctor said _loins_ and given him what Ray guessed was supposed to be a reassuring look.

Talking about his reproductive organs was off the table, as far as Ray was concerned. At least while his parents were in the room. He was pretty sure his face was going to catch on fire from how red it got when the doctor asked if he’d noticed the swelling of a knot or experienced any drastic changes toward submissiveness.

Stella said that kind of talk was bullshit from the patriarchy, and since Ray hadn’t popped a knot or felt the need to roll over and beg for it, he had been inclined to agree.

Well. He did find himself baring his throat more to Stella when they got in arguments, but he was pretty sure that was because she was also going through the same changes and there was no question about whether she was an Alpha or not, on top of her developing _womanhood_.

When they were kids, Ray had begged Stella to show him her pink and purple unicorn panties because she said they had sparkles. He had a hard time imagining her as anything but that; young and innocent and his best friend from the moment he laid eyes on her.

The idea that that had to change now, practically overnight because she started to bleed and he was a few years short of his first Heat didn’t rest well with Ray. He didn’t want to move to Canada and spend the rest of his life with some guy he didn’t even know.  As much as his parents reassured him that Benton was a smart and gentle boy, Ray wasn’t inclined to believe it.

After all, how could he? Benton was a complete stranger, never mind that they’d been promised to each other since before Ray can remember. At least half his life. They’d only met once, and besides from the occasional holiday card, Ray didn’t know much about him. What his favorite food was or if he liked hockey or if he had every intention of bending Ray over and fucking him ‘till he bled on their wedding night.

Ray wasn’t an idiot. He’d read some of the dirty novels Stella had stolen from her mother or the library, about Alphas and Omegas and relationship dynamics and all that stupid stuff. Stella said she liked the historical aspect, and when she spent so much time railing against the system, he didn’t have any reason not to believe her.

He did know Benton had grown into his gangliness, at least, which is something Ray was envious of.  Ray had a few pictures, tacked to his wall by his mother so that he’d become as familiar with his future mate’s face as he was his own. It wasn’t a bad face, at least. A little round when he was young, but Ray supposed he was a handsome Alpha now.

He probably wasn’t a virgin, which sucked, because Ray wasn’t even allowed to think about having sex before his first Heat. He had to save himself for his husband, his mate, his Alpha. Even when Stella was curious, she was never curious enough to remove her own clothes in front of him and a part of him was relieved.

Not that he’d ever tell anyone, but as much as he loved Stella, he didn’t think he was ready to go all the way with her. He hadn’t even gotten his bloodwork confirming his status back yet, and Stella was probably hoping to save herself for her suitable match, when her parents found him.

Besides, their relationship was already confusing enough. Ray didn’t think he could handle any more on top of what they were going through already. Not right now, anyways.

He had little choice but to keep his chin up and carry on. He had school, which he hated, and Stella, whom he loved, and everything else just kind of fell neatly in place in-between. As frustrating and confused as he was at his own emotions and the changes in his body, at least they were manageable.

 

* * *

 

The bloodwork came back a few weeks after the test, slower than Ray had hoped but he dreaded the day it came all the same. It wasn’t a surprise what the results read, and Ray only had to see the large O stamped in the corner to know there was absolutely no way to change his fate.

His parents were ecstatic – the possibilities! Benton would have no reason not to claim Ray, not when he was young and healthy and officially an Omega. It would mean good things for Ray, in his future. There was no going back now.

For his part, Ray snuck into Stella’s room and pretended he didn’t see her look of disgust when he cried into her lap. He was an Omega, now. He might as well start acting like one.

 

* * *

 

The closer Ray got his first Heat, the more he was convinced he was just biding his time. As much as he begged to have the arrangement called off because he wanted to marry Stella, it had little effect on his parents.

At least his parents cared that’s even what Ray and Stella wanted, though it was too late to do anything about it. Stella’s parents laughed at the idea and never took it seriously. Ray was crushed but Stella just got the fiercely determined look in her eye that both made Ray want to roll over for her and bounce around the room in excitement.

For his birthday, his mate – or more likely, his mate’s father – sent him a quilt. It was heavy and warm and in dark enough shades of blue and green that Ray didn’t feel embarrassed when Stella saw it. There was a scent to it, something faint but warm, and as much as Ray hated the idea of mating with Benton, he had to admit there was comfort in his scent.

He thought, _this must be what having an Alpha is like_ , and he hated that it wasn’t Stella’s warm, familiar scent giving him this level of comfort. Ray kept the quilt on the foot of his bed to keep his mother happy, but he stubbornly refused to sleep under it. He wasn’t married yet, mated, he wasn’t going to smell like an Alpha he hardly even knew.

 

* * *

 

“How did your parents even meet?” Stella asked him one day. She’d dragged him to the park to bask in the sun, enjoy the last warm sun of Autumn before Winter started up again. “Not _your_ parents, but.” She made a hand gesture and Ray knew what she meant.

“Friend of a friend, I think,” Ray replied. He rested his head on her lap and she was in a calm enough mood to let him, fingers scratching along his scalp gently. Her scent was strong, here, and Ray wanted to rub his face in it forever. “Mom said there was a lot of questions and paperwork. She said they paid a lot of money to ensure I’d be _his_.”

Stella’s nose crinkled, and Ray could feel her building up to rage against the system or the patriarchy or whatever pet cause she was a part of this week. “Your parents paid for you to be married to some creep you don’t even know?”

Against his better judgment, Ray kept his head in her lap. He licked his lip, and jerked his shoulders in a nod as he looked up at her. “I guess it wasn’t as bad as it sounds. His parents pimped him out for the good of the Pack, because they’re all old world or whatever and his dad needed the money to support them or something.”

The feeling of Stella’s quiet rage boiling was palpable – Ray didn’t know if it was the way she tensed, or the heady change in her smell, but even he wasn’t dumb enough to lay in front of her when she was raging. He’d suffered through enough of her tantrums in the name of love. “They still believe in _Pack_?”

Ray shrugged and tried not to fidget. He wasn’t opposed to the idea of a Pack. It was like having a family, but with more responsibilities. A social hierarchy. Ray couldn’t remember the terms they learned in social sciences and he really didn’t care. “My mom says – “

“I don’t care what your mom says, Ray,” Stella snapped. She stood up suddenly and wiped the dirt and stray grass from her bare legs. “If you want to go and get yourself mounted in front of the whole _Pack_ in the old ways, than be my guest.”

Stella stormed off, leaving Ray feeling very confused and guilty for some reason he didn’t understand. He didn’t think he had a choice but to follow her, even if she ignored him on the entire walk home. She was still his Stella. The Alpha he _should_ have been promised to.

 

* * *

 

Stella bit Ray that night, hard enough that he whimpered in pain but she didn’t let go. She dug her teeth in and sucked, the proper way to leave a claiming mark, and Ray just curled his fingers into fists and let her. He’d waited for her to do this for so long, but now that it was happening he wasn’t sure he liked it.

For starters, it fucking _hurt_ to have someone bite down on the spot where his neck met his shoulder and work a mark into his skin.

But also, when Stella let go and stepped back to admire her work, looking from the spit wet red mark on Ray’s neck to his face, she didn’t even look remotely satisfied. She shoved his shoulder and told him to go home, and no amount of protesting could change her mind.

Ray had to hide the mark from his parents, pulling his coat up snug around his neck and making sure it stayed covered. He was already feeling weirdly guilty about letting himself be marked by someone other than _his_ Alpha and he didn’t need them to add to his load.

 

* * *

 

When his Heat finally came, Ray wasn’t ready for it. He ignored the prickling of his skin and the sudden warmth he felt all over, because he’d been getting the symptoms for months. His clothes felt too restricting and every raised voice made him want to bare his throat and he had to fight against his nature to keep it from happening.

It wasn’t until lunch and Stella wrinkled her nose in disgust that Ray noticed he was giving off a scent at all. He was in high school, he was used to his classmates unconsciously sniffing the air, trying to figure out who was distracting them. He lifted his arm to sniff himself, but he didn’t notice a difference. Besides maybe being a little sweaty, he didn’t think he was that bad.

“You’re foul,” Stella said, covering her nose with her hand. She looked disgusted, despite the fact she was trying for sympathetic. If there was ever a final sign that they would never be together, her complete revolt at the beginnings of his Heat scent was surely it. “Go home, Ray.”

But for some reason, Ray held his ground. Normally he would have jumped at the chance to get out of class early, to be allowed to go home and roll in his bed and sleep for the rest of the day. But not today. Today, Ray had no intentions of going home. Home meant confirming he was in Heat, and that meant sitting in a car for days on end on his way to the Northwest Territories.

Knowing Ray’s luck, he would start his Heat proper before he even made it to his marriage bed. His parents would be forced to smell him and listen to him beg to be filled and bred, if the stories he’d heard were right. And again, knowing Ray’s luck, they would be.

“Ray,” Stella said, her voice dropping into her Alpha tone and Ray’s skin crawled from the need to obey, and a part of his brain screamed at him _wrong Alpha_.

“No,” he said. He licked his lips and stabbed his peas and carrots viciously. “I’m not going. You can’t make me go home and go to the middle of nowhere Canada and I’m not going to be anyone’s bitch!”

Stella looked stunned for a moment, then narrowed her eyes. Her voice had a growl to it, quiet, but there. “Ray, don’t be stupid. If someone catches your scent they could take advantage of you. They could _hurt_ you.”

“But so could he!” Ray pleaded. “Please, Stella, don’t make me go.”

And for a moment, Stella was everything Ray loved her for being. She was torn at the dilemma, but her quiet presence wasn’t overbearing and she squeezed one of his hands gently in her own. His skin crawled at the contact, but he didn’t let himself pull away. “Ray,” she said softly, and he was pretty sure he heard her heart break in her voice.

This time, Ray did tug away. He grabbed his bag off the floor and stormed away, and Stella was too shocked to follow. They both knew he was going to get a pass to go home anyways. It’s not like he had anywhere else to go. His entire life had been leading up to this moment, and now that it was here –

It was a paradox, a twisted juxtaposition, the end of Ray’s life and the beginning in the same cruel twist of fate. He wanted to hide his face in Stella’s lap and cry, but he’d never be allowed to do that again. Once he got home, everything would be over. This life would be put behind him.

Ray stormed away from Stella, and he didn’t even have the strength to turn around and beg for forgiveness and say goodbye to the best friend he’d ever had.

Ray didn’t think he ever hated anything as much as he hated himself and his life, right then.

 

* * *

 

The trip was awful. The doctors gave his parents drugs to give to him to keep him sedate for the three, maybe four days it would take to get up North. Strong enough that he couldn’t feel the Heat prickling his skin and he didn’t have the energy to do more than rub his face against his seatbelt and stare at the landscape with tired eyes.

There was a nausea building in his stomach that he didn’t think had to do with his Heat, and he was only peripherally aware of the fact he was hard in his jeans. He’d catch himself every now and then grinding his palm against his fly, but then his father would cough or his mother would point out something in the distance and he shoved his hands in his armpits and tried not to flush in shame.

The seconds would stretch into hours but then half a day would go by before Ray could register it. He wasn’t sure if it was the lull of the car, or his Heat, or the drugs pumping through his system, but Ray felt sick in ways he couldn’t explain and he closed his eyes and silently begged for the trip to be over.

At that point, Ray would do anything to be able to strip out of his clothes and stretch across a bed large enough for him to lay spread-eagled on. He didn’t care if that meant inevitably losing his virginity to someone he didn’t know, not anymore. Ray just needed to stop moving and lay down, and hopefully not puke his guts out from the overwhelming torrent of emotions running through him despite the drugs affect.

 

* * *

 

The cabin was small, and out of the way. His mate’s father – his father in law – Bob – let them in, and explained his son was lurking in the tundra somewhere trying to come to terms with what was going on. He rolled his eyes, gesturing _boys_ and Ray’s parents agreed sympathetically. There was only one room, with a kitchen and an overstuffed couch and a bed tucked into the corner and Ray made a beeline straight for it.

He didn’t care that his parents were there, that a stranger was, not anymore. He kicked off his sneakers and his coat and crawled on top of the heavy quilt. It was cold, but it felt nice against his heated skin. He had to remind himself not to keep stripping, even though he desperately wanted to.

“It might be a few more hours before the drugs wear off,” his father said. “Doctor thought it was the most humane way to get him up here.”

Bob made a sound, faint over the sound of blood rushing in Ray’s ears, and he lost track of the rest of the conversation. They were talking in hushed voices, slowly leaving the cabin to give him privacy, though they left the door open to be able to check in on him if need be.

Ray was exhausted. He had no idea when his mate would deem Ray important enough to arrive, and the drugs were dragging him down. Down, down, down, until the only reasonable action to Ray seemed to be to close his eyes and let the warmth and exhaustion wash over him.

 

* * *

 

When Ray woke up, there was a cool dishcloth on his forehead. He sighed, content, but it didn’t last for long. As his brain started to wake up, he could feel the effects of the Heat start seeping back in. The cool sweat covering his skin, making his jeans and shirt cling to him. The ache in his bones and muscles, and the need for something he didn’t quite understand.

And the scent! Not his own, but something stronger, heavier, and Ray didn’t have to open his eyes to know where it was coming from. He licked his lips, but his mouth was dry and it did little good. It took a moment to be able to form his mate’s name, and another to work up the energy to say it audibly. “Benton?”

The mattress dipped and Ray felt a wall of heat forming at his side. He pushed the cloth up from where it slipped over his eyes, and sure enough, there he was.

Ray’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of Benton’s bright blue eyes, and his entire body throbbed with a need – to be touched, to be held, to be bent over and knotted and claimed. It took everything in Ray not to fumble clumsily for Benton and to beg for it. “How long - ?”

“Not that long,” Benton said quietly. His expression was guarded, calculating, but Ray didn’t care. His bright eyes and dark hair made Ray ache as much as the heat emanating from Benton’s skin and the sight of his toned arms under his flannel shirt did. He’d grown out of his scrawniness better than Ray had, and even fully clothed, Ray’s mouth started to water. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Do I look like I’m feeling okay?” Ray groaned. He closed his eyes and punched the mattress at his side. He was in Heat, in a completely different world, and he was aching so bad for a mate he never wanted he was actually considering begging for it.

The question was rhetorical, but Benton answered it anyways. “No,” he said, and he leaned forward to gently adjust the cool clothe on Ray’s head. He looked at Ray’s face, contemplating, before sighing. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Ray asked, though even in his addled state he was pretty sure he knew. Now that he was awake, Benton was going to strip him and roll him over and get the claiming over with. Once they consummated their – their marriage, Ray guessed, even though there was no real ceremony – it would be official. Ray would be Benton’s for as long as Benton would have him.

But Benton’s touch was gentle, and he brushed spikey hair out of Ray’s face. “That this is how it happened.” He tried to smile, but he looked just as helpless as Ray felt. There was a tension in his body that Ray knew must be making him ache to do what his nature begged of him, but Benton made no move to. “You can go back to sleep, if you want. I’ll take care of you.”

There was a relief in that, equally matched by confusion. It didn’t stop Ray from nodding though, and he scooted over on the bed to make room for Benton. “Stay?” He asked, because his scent was comforting and his body was warm, and if Ray was going to beg for his knot in a few hours he might as well be allowed to curl in with his mate until then.

Benton hesitated, but obeyed. He stretched out at Ray’s side, mindful of the contact between their two bodies. Eventually, he rested one of his hands on Ray’s shirt, over his heart, and it was strangely comforting for Ray. Benton didn’t object when Ray squirmed closer, because the contact was bliss, though he still felt so distant.

It would change soon, Ray was sure. When the drugs were gone and they’d gotten used to each other’s scent, there would be no shame in either of them for craving the contact. It was just a matter of time.

 

* * *

 

Everything turned into a hazy blur. The cool cloths Benton laid gently on his forehead felt like a shock to his system, but Ray couldn’t lay still long enough to feel the full affect. Everytime Benton shifted on the bed, Ray squirmed and arched to get closer, worming out of his clothes and begging for the comfort of Benton’s touch. His skin burned and his body ached and the gentle way Benton rubbed his chest and shoulders and back wasn’t enough to relieve the tension.

Time felt like it was standing still. The need was burning through his veins like fire, begging to be touched, to be marked, to be knotted and claimed. He begged Benton shamelessly, too far gone to care he was everything he never wanted to be.

Even when Ray brought himself to orgasm by rubbing frantically against the rough fabric of Benton’s jeans, the Alpha resisted. His grip was firm but gentle in keeping Ray in bed, in the circle of his arms, and he gave up trying to leave Ray to fetch him more water or ice, something to keep his body going through the eternity of hell.

Ray sobbed brokenly every time he was abandoned on the bed, begging for forgiveness, apologizing for not being enough. But he would try, Benton, Alpha, he would try. He would spread his legs and let Benton claim him now and in front of everyone if it just meant Benton would pin him down and fuck him already.

He was delirious, but he didn’t care.

And through it all, the cursing and begging and squirming and panting, Benton never left Ray’s side. He was hard in his jeans, had to be painfully so, but he didn’t let Ray go for his cock no matter how hard he tried. He pinned Ray’s arms and held him, placing soft nuzzling kisses to the curve of Ray’s neck and it was – it was wonderful, perfect, calming in a way – but it wasn’t enough.

Sometimes when Ray blacked out, he’d wake up to the scent of Benton’s release. A heady smell that made him lightheaded, made him whimper, because Benton couldn’t get far enough away from Ray without leaving the cabin to hide his guilt. The scent clung to him, and Ray rubbed Benton’s hand over his face, forced him to pet down Ray’s body. He was desperate for the scent of Benton in him, on him, marking him as claimed. He couldn’t help himself.

Benton never claimed him though. He relented to letting Ray bring himself off into the sweat slick curl of Benton’s fingers, but anything more, anything else, and Benton would growl and pin him down and Ray was forced to rut against the sheets until the burning haze had passed for the time being.

Despite the fact that Ray needed and wanted, the fact that Benton didn’t give but still gave comfort, still wiped the sweat from his skin and rubbed the sore muscles in his thighs and back – Ray wasn’t sure, but in his Heat haze, he was pretty sure he’d already managed to fall madly in love with his Alpha.

 

* * *

 

Benton was pressed against Ray from behind, from shoulders to knees, their legs tangled together and his arm around Ray in a protective grip. His breath was soft on the back of Ray’s neck, a barely noticeable tickle that made Ray squirm. Benton just tightened his grip through and dragged Ray in closer to his chest.

 Ray thought he should feel disgusted. He reeked of Heat and sweat and sex – however one sided it had been. But as sore as he was, exhausted deeper than he thought possible, to the core of his entire being, maybe, he felt… fine.

His mouth was dry and he had to piss like a race horse, but in the warm comfort of Benton’s body, it didn’t feel urgent. Not after the frantic need he felt before, for who knows how many days. Right now, he was just tired. Very tired and very sore and not entirely sure if they even had indoor plumbing this far North.

Benton’s nose bumped against the back of his neck, followed by a gentle flick of something cool and wet – his tongue, Ray registered in minor disgust – but then Benton sighed and nuzzled closer, and even Ray couldn’t resist the silent command.

_Go back to sleep_ , his Alpha told him, and Ray closed his eyes and obeyed.

 

 

 


End file.
